Fans Gather at Levon Helm's Woodstock Home

They're paying tribute to the late, great singer and drummer.

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FILE - In this Dec. 3, 2007 file photo, musician Levon Helm appears on the new "Imus in the Morning" program at New York. A message posted Tuesday, April 17, 2012 on the 71-year-old musician's website by his family says "Levon is in the final stages of his battle with cancer." Helm was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1998 and the illness reduced his voice to a whisper. But he still continued to sing on albums and at rollicking concerts at his Woodstock home. Helm was a key member of The Band and lent his distinctive Southern voice to classics like "The Weight" and "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down." (AP Photo/Richard Drew, file)

Friends and fans of Levon Helm are gathering at his Woodstock home to pay homage and say farewell to the legendary singer and drummer for The Band, who died of cancer last week.

Thursday's public memorial is being staged at the place where Helm held his Saturday night Midnight Ramble barn concerts in New York's Hudson Valley. After a private funeral Friday, Helm will be buried in Woodstock Cemetery next to Rick Danko, The Band's singer and bassist who died in 1999.

Helm, Danko, Garth Hudson, Robbie Robertson and Richard Manuel's first album as The Band was 1968's "Music From Big Pink." Songs including "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" and "Up on Cripple Creek" are rock standards.

Published at 11:48 PM PDT on Apr 25, 2012 | Updated at 2:35 AM PDT on May 8, 2012